A network with competing client applications (e.g., media players) may lead to instability and unfairness between different sessions. Unfairness may be particularly noticeable, for example, when some clients are subject to greater network delays than other clients. A DASH protocol, among other media delivery protocols, may not be well-suited to environments with variable download conditions. For example, a streaming client (e.g., a DASH client) may request segments of media content based on the throughput it experiences. However, a caching middle box may reside between the streaming client and an origin server, such that some but not all segments are stored at the caching device. The caching device may be connected to the origin server via a backhaul link. If the backhaul link and/or the origin server has lower throughput than the connection between the client and caching device, the streaming client may not be able to accurately determine the throughput back to the origin server when the caching device is present. This may result in an unintended decrease in the quality of experience (QoE).